Retail establishments typically use a plurality of different size bags for packaging their products sold to consumers. The bags are usually stored on a shelf or other support member provided for all sizes and shapes of bags.
In the prescription drug area conventional practice is to use paper bags for the distribution of products. These bags are opaque. They do not stand up by themselves, and must be held up manually when placing products in the bag.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,728 and 5,332,097 to Wile teach a plurality of the same size bags being held on a hook located inside of a paperboard cartridge. The bags are of the “T-shirt” type having perforations in the lip so the bags can be torn off of the hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,832 to Daniels teaches a rack for dispensing plastic bags. Various size bags are draped over a rod and held on stationary wire loop hooks. Each of the various size bags are disposed one on top of each other to form a stack of bags such that the body portions of the bags connected to the bag handles form a stack on the rod. Because of this arrangement, Daniels must provide lubricous surfaces on each of the bags so that the bags located in the stack do not adhere to an adjacent bag when being removed from the rod. In addition, after the bags are draped over the rod, the closure portions of each of the different size bags must be attached to a specific one of the hook loops which makes the mounting of the bags in the bag holder difficult. Furthermore, the top bags must be removed in order to replace the bottom bags.
Million, U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,339 and Dinges, U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,166, merely teach wickets for holding plastic bags having a pair of holes near the handles. With the device of Dinges, two different size bags are placed under the same hooks. Because the two different size bags are stacked on top of each other in Dinges, a large bag being removed has a tendency to adhere to an adjacent smaller bag and inadvertently remove several of the adjacent smaller bags. This effectively limits the number of different size bags to be held by the Dinges device. Furthermore, the top bags must be removed in order to replace the bottom bags. In addition, the wickets in both the Million and Dinges devices must be removed from a support base to mount additional bags on the wickets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,115 relates to an apparatus for supporting and dispensing articles such as bags, and more particularly plastic “T-shirt” type bags having perforations allowing the bags to be easily removed from the apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,437 relates to a snap and fill plastic film bag and a process of opening and placing product in the plastic bags. A reclosable zipper is provided at the opening of the bag leading to the bag cavity. A lip extends from the front wall above the reclosable zipper and a header portion extends from the back wall above the reclosable zipper. A part of the header portion is supported on a support structure for carrying the bag and a perforation is provided on the header portion above the reclosable zipper. The bags are initially closed and, during the process of opening and placing the product therein, the operator grips the bag front wall lip and by pulling the lip away from the support structure, the zipper profiles are separated and opens the bag. Further pulling of the lip from the support structure causes the severing of the bag from the header portion at the perforation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,716 relates to a staged release bag formed of a thermoplastic film material having multiple layers and having discrete cuts formed therein including wicket holes, stabilizing cuts and release paths, and which is useful in an automated packaging operation, and a method for making said bag from a continuous tube or sheet of plastic material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,561 relates to a bag made of thin pliable plastic film, including panels having slits formed therein, the slits of the bag being formed to extend in a first direction, and the slits on a relatively facing panel having slits formed to extend in a direction transverse to said first direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,155 relates to a quickly accessible and fillable plastic bag unit, which includes a spacer unit having two layers, and a plastic bag having front and back walls which are joined together, and a pair of complementary separable zipper halves which are provided respectively on the front and back walls and which are spaced apart from the spacer unit at a predetermined distance. The plastic bag unit has an aperture unit formed through an intermediate portion of the spacer unit, two narrower outer uncut spaces which are respectively adjacent to the longitudinal sides of the plastic bag and which connect the spacer unit to the front and back walls, and two wider inner uncut spaces which are respectively adjacent to the aperture unit and which connects the spacer unit to the front and back walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,244 relates to a plastic film bag assembly which includes a recloseable plastic film bag made up of a front wall and back wall joined together and having complementary detachably attachable zipper profiles at the bag opening. A lip extends from the front wall above the zipper profiles. A header extends above the back wall above the zipper profiles. A hole is provided through the header at a distance from the header perimeter edge and defining a severable header portion between the hole and the perimeter edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,607 relates to a method and apparatus for producing thermoplastic bags from an elongate web. An apparatus for feeding the web includes devices for producing mounting holes and perforations along a circular path surrounding the holes. The web is severed and sealed to produce sheets containing a mounting hole encircled by the perforations. A selected number of successive sheets are impaled on a post projecting through the holes. A stack having a selected number of sheets is accumulated on a post fixed to a support supporting a medial zone of the sheets which are combined by a heated punch penetrating the sheets in the area enclosed by the perforations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,148 relates to a stack of interlocked detachable bags, formed from a thermoplastic foil strip, and each comprising two walls, a front wall and a back wall, preferably at least one handle-shaped incision positioned on one of said walls adjacent an upper filling opening, wherein the individual bags each have an interlock piece and are attached together with the aid of at least one interlock means engaging their interlock pieces, and by means of a row of perforations forming an edge of the interlock piece the individual bags are detachable from the interlocked stack by tearing off.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,000 relates to a suspendable bag adapted for suspending on a structure and opening, filling, and severing away therefrom. A suspension wall extends from the bags and includes suspension holes adapted to receive suspension pegs located on the structure. A score line is provided below the suspension holes and a support hole is provided below the score line and above the bag. The support hole is adapted to receive a support bag located on the structure. During operation, the support hole, in conjunction with the support peg, allows the opening of a reclosable zipper at the mouth of the bag by pulling on a lip connected to the front wall of the bag. The support hole, in conjunction with the support peg, further supports the back portion of the bag while the bag is being filled with various products.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,193,058 and 6,364,105 relate to a liquid dispensing bag that has a sealed concentrate pouch and a mixing pouch, the concentrate pouch having a fluid tight seal separating the concentrate pouch from the mixing pouch, and the concentrate pouch containing a base material at a first concentration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,451 relates to a block of side-gussetted, bottom-weld bags. Each bag has an opening on one side to facilitate the removal of individual bags from the block.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,738 relates to a plastic bag film assembly which includes a bag having front and back walls joined together and defining an opening leading to a cavity. A header portion extends from the back wall for supporting the bag on a structure. A severance line extends across the header and includes tear sections extending inwardly from each of the header side edges. The severance line also includes support sections adjacent and inwardly of the tear sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,126 relates to a bottom gusset bag pad arrangement for liquid containers. The bag pad arrangement is made from tube stock, for bagging a pair of liquid containers, such as containers for carry out for milk shakes, carbonated drinks, that are at fast food outlets, for carry away by the customer, in which the bag pads are all the same and are incorporated in the pad in congruent relation. Each bag has a bottom fold that is gusseted for flat bottom shaping when open, front and back panels extending between side end seals that extend normally of the bag bottom that are spot welded together at the center of the bag but spaced from the bottom gusset thereof, and that define rectilinear side edgings forming the upper corners of the respective bags that extend to the bag end seals adjacent to but spaced from the bottom gusset thereof, and aligned handle forming openings formed in the bag front and back panels adjacent the upper end of each bag. The back panel of each bag includes a projecting flange that extends beyond the top edging of the bag front panel which is free of the back panel to form the mouth of each bag. The bag back panel flange includes a score line and the bags of the pad are united in pad form by heat welding the bags together at the top edging of the back panel flange, with a pad mounting hole being formed in the pad bag back panel flanges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,262 relates to a flat bottom plastic bag having two sided panel construction with the bottom of the bag formed by a gusset extending between the sealed ends of the bag, at which point the bag side panels are joined together, with the bag bottom gusset having a central fold line that is, in the flattened relation of the bag, disposed between the lower portions of the bag side panels, and that in such relation forms a first pair of adjacent bag plies that includes one of said bag side panel lower portions, and a second pair of bag plies that includes the lower portion of the other bag side panel, with said respective sets of bag plies being respectively joined together but free of adherence to each other by diagonally extending heat seals on either side of the bag that extend diagonally from the bag respective ends in converging relation to adjacent the respective bottom edges of the bag that are defined by the respective bag plies.